


Shaken Beside An Azalea

by voleuse



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-13
Updated: 2007-01-13
Packaged: 2017-10-04 03:47:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/voleuse/pseuds/voleuse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><em>"A girl could live in a place like this." </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Shaken Beside An Azalea

**Author's Note:**

> Set between 1.10 and 1.11. Title and summary adapted from Laurel Snyder's _Then Up-Shaken Morning_.

It's odd having a third inhabitant in the TARDIS, Rose discovers. Sure, Adam was around for a while, but he stuck by her side, for the most part. Adam was normal, even if he was from the future, a little bit. Adam was human.

Jack, although human, is an unknown entity. There's a difference between a handful of years in the future, and thirty centuries. When he's walking around the TARDIS, Jack skives off in tangents, peering into instrument panels and investigating gadgets. He asks the Doctor questions using words Rose can't pronounce, and he makes jokes that only Rose doesn't understand.

And, one morning over breakfast, Jack leans back and chuckles at Rose's eggs and toast. "That's cute."

"Cute?" Rose scowls, sliding a slice of tomato over her plate. "It's breakfast. What are you talking about?"

"Anything. Everything." Jack spreads his arms, embracing the entire area of the kitchen. "You're in a ship that travels time and space. You can eat any sort of food you want, from any planet, and you have eggs and toast for breakfast?"

"I think," the Doctor says as he strides in, "it's tasty."

Jack narrows his eyes, but smiles. "How long has Rose been traveling with you?"

The Doctor pauses as he rummages through a cabinet. "I don't know." He grins at Rose. "Feels like an eternity."

"Oi!" she says.

"And," Jack says, raising his voice over hers, "you've never taken her to the breakfast feast of Svideera Maybe?"

"Hadn't thought of it," the Doctor says.

"Tea at the fourth Eris colony?"

"Not yet," the Doctor says.

"The buffet at the Bellagio on Nuevo Las Vegas?"

"No," the Doctor says.

Jack folds his arms. "I rest my case."

"We've had things to do, you know," the Doctor says. "Planet to save, that sort of thing?"

"Oh, yeah," Jack replies. "Why bother having a meal when you could be risking your life fighting alien spore?"

"Well," Rose announces. "I think I'd like to go to the breakfast feast at that, um, Maybe place."

The Doctor grits his teeth, then nods. "I'll go enter the coordinates." Rose suspects he might stomp out of the room, but he just walks a little faster than usual.

Jack laughs, and Rose takes another bite of her toast.

*

 

The breakfast feast of Svideera Maybe is held on a very clean and very wide beach. It is held at sunrise after the longest night of their year, and it is the first feast of the season. The food is prepared for a week before the feast is scheduled. The best chefs of the best resorts mingle with matriarchs who break out their most closely-guarded recipes for the occasion. The food is spread on long, low tables, and the participants sprawl on the sand as they eat.

There are no utensils, just plates full of food. And, Rose finds, a lot of very sparkling alcohol. It's like champagne, but a little thicker, and it tastes like tangerines. Whenever she empties her glass, one of the locals refills it.

"You're giggling more than usual," the Doctor observes.

"I like this." Rose dips her fingers into her plate, scoops a rice-like mash into her mouth. "It's weird."

"But it tastes good," Jack adds.

"Mmmph," Rose responds. "Ymmmph."

She thinks she looks ridiculous, sitting in the sand and eating with her hands. Jack, somehow, makes it look sexy--probably the way he licks his fingers after each bite. The Doctor looks happy, graceful. Relaxed.

Rose pokes at a round, fried thing on her plate, and decides to give it a go.

*

 

The feast is a day long. Everybody eats, then as the first round of dishes is cleared away, they drink and rest and laugh. The second round comes an hour later, then the cycle repeats again.

Two suns roll across the sky, and Rose lies back on the sand and stretches. She squirms out of her jacket and tips her head back. "We don't go to enough beaches, Doctor."

"Clearly," Jack says, and his voice is closer than she expected. She rolls her head to the side, and there he is, leaning on his elbow. "I think we should take you sunbathing."

"Out of the kindness of your heart, Jack?" the Doctor asks. Despite the words, he sounds playful. Rose rolls her head the other way, and sees him smiling.

Then she sits up. "Where did all the people go?" The tables are still there, but the beach is empty.

"Naptime," the Doctor explains. "All that cooking is exhausting."

Rose stands up, wobbles a bit. "Should we go back to the TARDIS?"

Jack places his hands on her thighs, steadying her. "I don't think you'd make it that far."

"I didn't drink that much," she replies.

"No," Jack says, "but more than you think you did. The stuff's stronger than tryptophan."

"They have some tents set up for visitors," the Doctor points out. "I'm sure there's a free one."

"Good idea," Jack says, and without another word, he scoops Rose up and carries her away.

"Bit of a show-off," Rose notes, giggling.

"Only a bit?" the Doctor responds.

*

 

Rose does, indeed, nap. When she wakes again, it's to the sound of waves tipping against the sand, a breeze against the tent wall, and Jack's soft murmur.

She opens her eyes. They've laid her on a pallet, and they're sitting on the sand, and the Doctor and Jack are kissing. Rather, just finished kissing, if the way Jack is leaning against the Doctor is any indication.

Their foreheads are touching, and Jack's hand is stroking over the Doctor's jaw and throat. The Doctor's hand rests on Jack's knee, and then he moves forward, kisses Jack again.

Rose catches her breath, watches. Listens. She thinks she should look away, go back to sleep. Leave the tent. But she can't. She doesn't want to.

When they break the kiss, the Doctor opens his eyes. He looks over Jack's shoulder and sees her, watching them.

"Rose," he says, and it sounds like a question.

She rises from her blankets, and tells them, "Go on."


End file.
